Down With the Debbie Downers and Her Kinfolk
June 29th, 2006 by Allen VoivodPoem: “Blessings” by Ronald Wallace from Long for This World: New and Selected Poems. © University of Pittsburgh Press. Reprinted with permission.
Blessingsoccur.
Some days I find myself
putting my foot in
the same stream twice;
leading a horse to water
and making him drink.
I have a clue.
I can see the forest
for the trees.
All around me people
are making silk purses
out of sows’ ears,
getting blood from turnips,
building Rome in a day.
There’s a business
like show business.
There’s something new
under the sun.
Some days misery
no longer loves company;
it puts itself out of its.
There’s rest for the weary.
There’s turning back.
There are guarantees.
I can be serious.
I can mean that.
You can quite
put your finger on it.
Think about the last “A-Ha!” idea you shared with a Downer. Did he say, “There’s nothing new under the sun”? Did she say, “You can’t be serious!”?
Just nod politely, and know that there IS light at the end of the tunnel — and no, it’s NOT the train.
